Soka Gakkai and Politics

The second president of the Soka Gakkai, Josei Toda, initiated the involvement in politics by appointing members in certain districts to run for local and national elections.  This was seen as another strand to ensure the flow of kosen-rufu and the peace of the nation.  In Nichiren’s day, the local lord’s had the power and control of their regions, but nowadays power resides with the people that vote for their political leaders.  After the war, the political landscape was changing frequently with a seemingly endless cycle of elections, corruption, votes of disapproval or lack of confidence, and new elections.  Consequently, Toda realized that rather than trying to gain favour with those in power, especially as they were only in power for weeks or months sometimes, the Soka Gakkai should appeal to the public directly.

In its early days in 1955, the political wing of the Soka Gakkai was called the Komei (Clean Government) Political League and one of its selling points was, as the name says, its focus on clean government.  This hasn’t always been possible, due to the over-enthusiasm or misplaced focus of some members, but on the whole the Komei Party has avoided a lot of the scandals and corruptions that have affected other parties.  As the party grew, and as more people became wary about its connection with the Soka Gakkai, President Ikeda decided to clearly separate the two organisations, and in 1964 the Komeito (Clean Government Party) became independent from the Soka Gakkai, although its policies are still based on the humanistic values of Nichiren Buddhism. 

In 1969 it became the third biggest party in Japan’s political scene and while it has traditionally voted on bills in support of the number two party, the Japan Socialist Party, it has also supported bills by the leading party, the Liberal Democratic Party.  During the mid 1990s there was some movement in the Komeito Party, which split into different groups.  Some of these split again and some of them disappeared, until finally in 1998 all of these different factions reformed to create the New Komeito Party.

Even though the Komeito Party became independent from the Soka Gakkai, it is still seen by many as the Soka Gakkai's Party and many people in Japan worry about this religious connection.  Despite this worry, the Party has continued to grow over the years.  In most cases, these politicians would not hold their positions if they relied solely on Soka Gakkai members’ votes, so why are non-members electing and re-electing them? 

It’s because the Komeito Party follows humanistic policies which focus on making life better for all citizens.  They are not campaigning for schools to have morning gongyo, compulsory human revolution or for other religions (or atheism) to be outlawed.  They are working on grassroots campaigns that are bringing real change to the lives of people at a local level, or working on a national level to improve conditions in the workplace, education, healthcare, etc.  They are not acting solely on behalf of Soka Gakkai members (although they have represented the rights of the organisation and its members), and they are not even trying to just please the people that voted for them.  They are fulfilling their mission of kosen-rufu and trying to make life in Japan safer and better for everyone.